Indian-born CEOs are closing their firms and fleeing back to India to escape charges of fraud in the annual lotteries for visas to import H-1B foreign contract workers, says a lawyer for many Indian-owned subcontractors and visa workers.
“So yes, they are getting prosecuted, they are getting investigated, and that’s the reason why some of them are packing their bags and closing their companies,” said Rahul Reddy, an immigration lawyer in Texas.
Reddy made his comments during an online question-and-answer session with Indian graduates who are worried about the federal investigations into the H-1B fraud in the annual lottery for 85,000 new H-1B work permits. The work permits are used to import lower-wage migrants to take the jobs needed by U.S. college graduates.
Many Indian graduates in India cooperate with the fraud because the H-1B visas put them on a long, indentured-service path to U.S. jobs, green cards, and citizenship.
But many other Indian graduates from U.S. colleges oppose the lottery fraud because it hinders their three legal chances to convert their “Optional Practical Training” (OPT) work permits into an H-1B visa with its valuable path to U.S. citizenship.